Violence in Bucharest after pro-Russia presidential candidate barred
Budapest, 10 March 2025 (dpa/MIA) - Violent clashes broke out between demonstrators and police in Bucharest on Sunday evening after pro-Russian politician Călin Georgescu was excluded from running in the country's presidential election.
What started as a rally by hundreds of supporters of Georgescu in front of the electoral commission's headquarters turned violent as participants broke through police barricades.
Police responded with tear gas. Rioters threw cobblestones and fireworks at the officers and set fire to furniture from neighbouring cafes.
They also overturned a broadcast van belonging to a television station they regarded as supporting Georgescu's rivals, Romanian media reported.
Several alleged rioters were detained, police said, without giving any specific figures.
Georgescu, a pro-Kremlin right-wing extremist, won the first round of the presidential election in Romania on November 24 in a surprise result. Shortly before the run-off vote in December, the Constitutional Court annulled the first round.
The whole election will now be rerun on May 4.
The electoral office has now rejected Georgescus's candidacy, citing on Sunday two earlier rulings by the Constitutional Court. Firstly, in autumn 2024, the court banned the candidacy of an extreme right-wing politician on the grounds that she violated fundamental democratic values. Secondly, the electoral office cited the annulment of the presidential election in December, which the Constitutional Court had ordered due to irregularities in Georgescu's campaign financing.
The electoral commission's decision on Georgescu's candidacy is not yet legally binding. The Constitutional Court must decide on an expected appeal by Wednesday.
At the end of last month, the Romanian public prosecutor's office also initiated criminal proceedings against Georgescu.
It accuses him of crimes including inciting acts against the constitutional order, providing false information regarding campaign financing and founding a fascist and anti-Semitic organization. Georgescu denies the allegations.
Photo: EPA
